A new serum that promotes eyelash growth has been developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam-Golm. It is considerably less expensive than conventional eyelash sera, very well tolerated, and a purely natural product. Mine Kaja has received a SEPAWA award for the excellent research she conducted as part of her bachelor thesis. Longer and thicker lashes – these are the side effects of eyedrops used to treat glaucoma in ophthalmology. Hair growth is triggered by prostaglandin, a tissue hormone that lowers internal eye pressure.

ETH Researchers have used the simplest approach yet to produce artificial beta cells from human kidney cells. Like their natural model, the artificial cells act as both sugar sensors and insulin producers. Researchers led by ETH Professor Martin Fussenegger at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) in Basel have produced artificial beta cells using a straightforward engineering approach. The artificial beta cells can do everything that natural ones do: they measure the glucose concentration in the blood and produce enough insulin to effectively lower the blood sugar level. The ETH researchers presented their development in the latest edition of the journal Science.

New Technique Removes Quasiparticles from Superconducting Quantum Circuits - An international team of scientists has succeeded in making further improvements to the lifetime of superconducting quantum circuits. An important prerequisite for the realization of high-performance quantum computers is that the stored data should remain intact for as long as possible. The researchers, including Jülich physicist Dr. Gianluigi Catelani, have developed and tested a technique that removes unpaired electrons from the circuits. These are known to shorten the qubit lifetime (to be published online by the journal Science today.

Physicists of the University of Würzburg have made an astonishing discovery in a specific type of topological insulators. The effect is due to the structure of the materials used. The researchers have now published their work in the journal Science. Topological insulators are currently the hot topic in physics according to the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Only a few weeks ago, their importance was highlighted again as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physics to three British scientists for their research of so-called topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter.

At TU Wien, it was possible to create a nanoscale optical element that regulates the flow of light particles at the intersection of two glass fibers like a roundabout. A single atom was used to control the light paths. Just like in normal road traffic, crossings are indispensable in optical signal processing. In order to avoid collisions, a clear traffic rule is required. A new method has now been developed at TU Wien to provide such a rule for light signals. For this purpose, the two glass fibers were coupled at their intersection point to an optical resonator, in which the light circulates and behaves as in a roundabout. The direction of circulation is defined by a single atom coupled to the resonator. The atom also ensures that the light always leaves the roundabout at the next exit. This rule is still valid even if the light consists merely of individual photons. Such a roundabout will consequently be installed in integrated optical chips – an important step for optical signal processing.

Microporous crystals (MOFs) have a great potential as functional materials of the future. Paolo Falcaro of TU Graz et al demonstrate in Nature Materials how the growth of MOFs can be precisely controlled on a large scale. Porous crystals called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) consist of metallic intersections with organic molecules as connecting elements. Thanks to their high porosity, MOFs have an extremely large surface area. A teaspoonful of MOFs has the same surface area as a football pitch. These countless pores situated in an extremely small space offer room for “guests” and can, for example, be used for gas storage or as “molecular gate” for separation of chemicals.

(Hannover, Germany) The Fraunhofer Project Group for Personalized Tumor Therapy will become a division of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM in Hannover as of January 2017 and will thus be included in the financing model of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The project group was founded in December 2010 as a research collaboration between the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the Land of Bavaria, and the University of Regensburg. During the past five years, the team of scientists in Regensburg has been organizationally attached to the Fraunhofer ITEM in Hannover, funded by the Bavarian government.

Almost 25,000 light years away, two dead stars orbit one another. Each more massive than our Sun, only 20 km in diameter, and less than five hours per orbit. This unusual pair was discovered by an international team of scientists – including researchers from two MPIs (Gravitational Physics and Radio Astronomy) – and by volunteers from the distributed computing project Einstein@Home. Only 14 similar binary systems are known so far, and the new one also is the most massive of those. Such systems enable some of the most precise tests of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. They also play an important role as potential gravitational-wave sources for the LIGO detectors. Neutron stars are the highly magnetized and extremely dense remnants of supernova explosions. Like a rapidly rotating cosmic lighthouse they emit beams of radio waves into space. If Earth happens to lie along one of the beams, large radio telescopes can detect the neutron star as a pulsating celestial source: a radio pulsar.

Deficiency in a certain protein in the gastrointestinal tract has been shown to lead to both inflammation and abdominal fat accumulation in mice. The discovery provides yet another piece of the puzzle of how humans are affected — or not — by the large quantities of intestinal bacteria we carry with us. In the study from Sahlgrenska Academy, researchers have addressed the key role of the bacteria-binding protein ZG16 in protecting the body from intestinal bacteria. “The hope is that eventually, we’ll be able to administer this protein to improve protection against bacteria in patients with a defective barrier,” says Joakim Bergström, postdoctoral researcher at Sahlgrenska Academy. Joakim Bergström is in Professor Gunnar C. Hansson’s research group, which, eight years ago, was first to discover that there is a protective mucus layer in the intestine that separates intestinal bacteria from the intestinal surface.

Before an operation, surgeons have to obtain the most precise image possible of the anatomical structures of the part of the body undergoing surgery. University of Basel researchers have now developed a technology that uses computed tomography data to generate a three-dimensional image in real time for use in a virtual environment. The planning of a surgical procedure is an essential part of successful treatment. To determine how best to carry out procedures and where to make an incision, surgeons need to obtain as realistic an image as possible of anatomical structures such as bones, blood vessels, and tissues.

The Lower Saxon‘ Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH) achieved a solar cell efficiency of 25 % in collaboration with the Institute of Electronic Materials and Devices (MBE) of the Leibniz Universität Hannover. This high efficiency was accomplished with passivating "poly-Si on oxide" contacts (POLO) for both polarities, which avoid the otherwise high recombination beneath the metal contacts. The Lower Saxon‘ Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH), an affiliated institute of the “Leibniz Universität Hannover” in collaboration with the Institute of Electronic Materials and Devices (MBE) of the “Leibniz Universität Hannover” achieved a solar cell efficiency of 25 %. This result was confirmed by DAkkS-accredited independent calibration laboratory ISFH CalTeC and presented at the Asian conference PVSEC-26 in Singapore.